Unfounded passport controls, aggression by officers, discriminatory insults, violent arrests, mistreatment and assaults: That these are the consequences of structural police practice and not, as often claimed by the police, “regrettable individual cases”, is a starting point of the work of KOP Campaign for Victims of Racist Police Violence. A common manifestation of this institutionalized racism is so-called racial profiling, that is, “when police officers do not have a specific suspect description and decide to stop, search, question, or arrest someone because that person appears suspicious to them because of their perceived origin or characteristics such as skin color and language.”
The campaign’s volunteer activists support those affected by racist police violence in a spirit of solidarity and partisanship, for example by referring them to lawyers, psychologists or counseling centers, as well as observing and accompanying them during court proceedings. In addition, the group conducts public relations work against the unlawful practice of racial profiling, documents and analyzes cases that have come to light, and raises money for the legal aid fund.
KOP is active in Berlin, Bremen and Kiel, current information can be found here. All episodes of the KOP column (“Police, Racism, Violence”) at SissiFm can be found here, the info videos of the campaign “Ban! Racial Profiling – Abolish Dangerous Places!” at this link.